No, John Mellencamp wasn’t booed off stage for praising Joe Biden

Was John Mellencamp forced to leave the stage at his own concert for praising President Joe Biden? A viral Facebook post said this happened at a Toledo, Ohio, show.

The April 16 post said, "Famous rock star BOOED off stage for praising Joe Biden," and linked to a story that identified the "Pink Houses" singer as the star in question. The story also included a video of a March 17 incident.

The Facebook post was flagged as part of Meta’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

Similar claims have been shared on Instagram and X.

But Mellencamp, 72, was not booed off the stage for praising the president. Some audience members heckled him as he talked between songs, according to The Blade, a local newspaper. None of the news reviews of the concert mentioned praise for the president; neither did a viral video posted on TikTok.

While talking about his late grandmother, Mellencamp was interrupted by an audience member who shouted, "Play some music!" which appeared to upset Mellencamp. His expletive-laden response to the interruption received cheers and applause from the rest of the audience. When Mellencamp resumed talking, another person shouted "Authority Song!" urging him to play the 1980s hit song by that name.

Mellencamp, now visibly upset, as the viral TikTok shows, threatened to end the show, and the audience can be heard urging him not to. Shortly after, he began performing his 1982 hit "Jack & Diane." 

But then he stopped abruptly and said, "You know what? Show is over," and left the stage.

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Reviewers of the concert said Mellencamp later returned to complete the show. 

"I do expect etiquette inside of the theater, the same way you would at a Broadway show," he told The Washington Post in an April 10 story. "And if you want to come and scream and yell and get drunk, don’t come to my show."

There was booing and jeering during the exchange between Mellencamp and the hecklers, but they were directed at the hecklers, according to video of the incident and news reports.

Mellencamp has had links to Democrats. He campaigned with Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign and performed at Obama’s 2009 inauguration and at the White House in 2010. He previously asked 2008 Republican presidential candidate John McCain to stop playing his song at campaign events. But we found no evidence that he mentioned politics or the president at his Toledo show.  

We rate the claim that Mellencamp was booed off stage for praising Biden False.